YHWH The Most Highs Revealed

“When the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance, when he divided mankind, he fixed the borders of the peoples according to the number of the sons of God… See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no god beside me; I kill and I make alive; I wound and I heal; and there is none that can deliver out of my hand… Rejoice with him, O heavens; bow down to him, all gods, for he avenges the blood of his children and takes vengeance on his adversaries. He repays those who hate him and cleanses his people’s land.” Deuteronomy 32:8, 39, 43 English Standard Version (ESV)

“When the Most High divided the nations, when he separated the sons of Adam, he set the bounds of the nations according to the number of the angels of God… Behold, behold that I am [he] (ego eimi), and there is no god beside me: I kill, and I will make to live: I will smite, and I will heal; and there is none who shall deliver out of my hands… Rejoice, ye heavens, with him, and let all the angels of God worship him (kai proskynesatosan auto pantes angeloi theou); rejoice ye Gentiles, with his people, and let all the sons of God strengthen themselves in him; for he will avenge the blood of his sons, and he will render vengeance, and recompense justice to his enemies, and will reward them that hate him; and the Lord shall purge (ekkathariei) the land of his people.” LXX

“Let all those be ashamed who serve graven images, Who boast of idols; Worship Him, all you gods!… For You are Yahweh Most High over all the earth; You are exalted far above all gods.” Psalm 97:7, 9

“Let all that worship graven images be ashamed, who boast of their idols; worship him, all ye his angels (proskynesate auto, pantes hoi angeloi autou)… For thou art Lord most high over all the earth; thou art greatly exalted above all (hyperhypsothes hyper pantas) gods.” Psalm 96:7, 9 LXX

“Who is like Yahweh our God, The One who sits on high,” Psalm 113:5

“Who is as the Lord our God? who dwells in the high places (en hypselois),” Psalm 112:5 LXX

“who is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power; who, having accomplished cleansing (katharismon) for sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high (en hypselois)… And when He again brings the firstborn into the world, He says, “And let all the angels of God worship Him (kai proskynesatosan auto pantes angeloi theou).’” Hebrews 1:3, 6  

 “and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe according to the working of the might of His strength, which He worked in Christ, by raising Him from the dead and seating Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, FAR ABOVE ALL (hyperano pases) rule and authority and power and dominion, and EVERY (pantos) name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And He put ALL THINGS (panta) in subjection under His feet, and gave Him as head OVER ALL THINGS (hyper panta) to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.” Ephesians 1:19-23  

“Therefore, God also highly exalted (hyperhypsosen) Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is ABOVE EVERY (hyper pan) name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” Philippians 2:9-11

“But the holy people of the Elyonin will take possession of the kingdom and keep it forever and ever… It did this until the Ancient One, who has lived for endless years, came and judged in favor of the holy people of the Elyonin. The time came when the holy people took possession of the kingdom… He will speak against the Elyonin, oppress the holy people of the Illah-ah, and plan to change the appointed times and laws. The holy people will be handed over to him for a time, times, and half of a time… The kingdom, along with the power and greatness of all the kingdoms under heaven, will be given to the holy people of the Elyonin. Their kingdom is eternal. All other powers will serve and obey them.” Daniel 7:18, 22, 25, 27 Names of God Bible (NOG)

“I kept looking Until thrones were set up, And the Ancient of Days was seated; His clothing was like white snow And the hair of His head like pure wool. His throne was ablaze with fire, Its wheels were a burning fire. A river of fire was flowing And coming out from before Him; Thousands upon thousands were attending Him, And myriads upon myriads were standing before Him; The court sat, And the books were opened… I kept looking in the night visions, And behold, with the clouds of heaven One like a Son of Man was coming, And He came up to the Ancient of Days And came near before Him. And to Him was given dominion, Glory, and a kingdom, That all the peoples, nations, and men of every tongue Might serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion Which will not be taken away; And His kingdom is one Which will not be destroyed.” Daniel 7:9-10, 13-14

“Yahweh is slow to anger and great in power, And Yahweh will by no means leave the guilty unpunished. In whirlwind and storm is His way, And clouds are the dust beneath His feet.” Nahum 1:3

“Sing to God, sing praises to His name; Lift up a song for Him who rides through the deserts, Whose name is Yah, and exult before Him… To Him who rides upon the highest heavens, which are from ancient times; Behold, He gives forth His voice, a voice that is strong. Ascribe strength to God; His majesty is over Israel And His strength is in the skies.” Psalm 68:4, 33-34

“Bless Yahweh, O my soul! O Yahweh my God, You are very great; You are clothed with splendor and majesty, Wrapping Yourself with light as with a cloak, Stretching out the heavens like a tent curtain. He lays the beams of His upper chambers in the waters; He sets up the clouds to be His chariot; He walks upon the wings of the wind;” Psalm 104:1-3

“But He kept silent and did not answer. Again the high priest was questioning Him and said to Him, ‘Are You the Christ, the Son of the Blessed One?’ And Jesus said, ‘I am; and you shall see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven.’” Mark 14:61-62

“For the Son of Man is going to come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and will then repay each one according to his deeds. Truly I say to you, there are some of those who are standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom.” Matthew 16:27-28 – Cf. 25:31-46; 26:1-2; Luke 17:24-25; 21:29, 36; 22:47-48; Acts 7:55-56; Rev. 1:7-18; 14:14-16

“These considerations lead to a final observation about the way Daniel deploys language to communicate what he saw in this Daniel 7 vision. Caragounis (1986: 74) observes that once Daniel has seen the vision (Dan. 7:1-14), curious lacunae stand in the interpretation (7:15-28):

Of the vision elements which are not interpreted by name, the most conspicuous are the Ancient One and the [one like a son of man] … Why is [the one like a son of man] not interpreted? Or, is he perhaps interpreted, though without being named expressly, but implicitly, by way of associations made in the text?

“Caragounis (1986: 75) next observes that the normal Aramaic term used in Daniel to refer to God as ‘Most High’ is… ‘illaya’ (Dan. 3:26, 32; 4:14, 21, 22, 29, 31; 5:18, 21; 7:25). In contrast with this, in the phrase ‘saints of the Most High’ (7:18, 22, 25, 27), Daniel always uses the form… ‘elyonin. Gentry (2003: 73) builds on these observations from Caragounis, noting that… (‘illaya‘)

is an Aramaic adjective, definite and singular, and may be rendered the Highest One or Most High. It refers to Yahweh, the one God of Israel and is standard in the Aramaic part of the book either as a modifier of God or as a title for God … By contrast [… ‘elyonin] is an honorific plural or plural of majesty of [… ‘elyon], the Hebrew adjective for highest plus the Aramaic plural ending.

“Daniel uses the two terms side by side in 7:25, ‘He shall speak words against the Most High [… ‘illaya’],/and shall wear out the saints of the Most High [… ‘elyonin]’, prompting Gentry (2003: 73) to ask:

Why does the author use a Hebrew expression (with Aramaic ending) for the Most High in the Aramaic section and side by side with the expression standard in Aramaic? It seems a deliberate attempt to draw some distinction between a divine figure associated with the saints and yet perhaps distinguished from Yahweh in some way.

“Because of the similarity of the statements in Daniel 7:14 and 7:27, we can be certain that the Most High referred to with (… ‘elyonin) and associated with the saints in the phrase ‘saints of the Most High’ is the ‘one like a son of man‘. Considering these two texts side by side will bring out their similarity (see table 6.2).

“The referent of the two third-person masculine singular pronoun at the end of Daniel 7:27, ‘his kingdom … obey him‘, is the Most High [… ‘elyonin]. The word ‘people’ [… ‘am] is also singular and thus could be the referent of these third-person pronouns, but for the following reasons Most High is more probably the referent. First, ‘Most High’ stands between the third singular pronouns and ‘people’, and the nearer substantive is more probably the referent. Secondly, the ‘people’ are referred to throughout the passage with the plural ‘saints’ (Dan. 7:18, 22, 25, 27), and ‘saints’ is closer to the pronoun than ‘people’. If the pronouns referred to the ‘people of the saints’, they might be plural rather than singular. Finally, the reuse of a phrase from Daniel 7:13 in 27 identifies the ‘one like a son of man’ with the ‘Most High’. Daniel 7:14 states that peoples, nations and languages will ‘serve’ the son of man, and the same Hebrew phrase is used in 7:27 (… leh yiplechun) to state that all dominions will serve the Most High. This is language used elsewhere in Daniel to refer to the kind of service one renders to what one worships (cf. the use of the verb in 3:12, 14, 17-18, 28; 6:17, 21 [MT]), and it is more probable that such service would be rendered to the Most High than to the people. Here again, Daniel used the Hebrew adjective with the Aramaic plural ending (… ‘elyonin) to refer to the ‘one like a son of man’ as Most High, distinguishing him from the Ancient of Days, for whom he used the normal Aramaic expression (… ‘illaya’) when designating him as Most High.

“By using these distinct forms for ‘Most High’ consistently, Daniel identified BOTH the Ancient of Days AND THE ONE LIKE A SON OF MAN AS THE MOST HIGH, even as he distinguished them from one another. In this passage, Daniel communicates that the one like a son of man will be enthroned alongside the Ancient of Days, that he comes with the clouds AS YAHWEH DOES ELSEWHERE (e.g. Pss 18:10; 97:2; 104:3, etc.), that he receives service and worship – described with terms ONLY elsewhere used for describing obeisance done for deity (Gentry 3003: 72-73), and that he will receive the everlasting kingdom which shall not pass away, which is exactly how God’s kingdom is described. The Ancient of Days is described as the Most High with one term, while the one like a son of man is described with another. And the term used to describe the one like a son of man as Most High is always used in the phrase ‘saints of the Most High’, apparently because the Psalm 8:5 son of man who receives dominion over the beasts, the Psalm 110:1 Lord of David who sits enthroned at Yahweh’s right hand, will be king over the saints, their representative who is somehow both identified with and distinguished from the Ancient of Days, even as he is both a descendant of David and a divine figure.” (James M. Hamilton Jr., With the Clouds of Heaven: The Book of Daniel in Biblical Theology (New Studies in Biblical Studies) [IVP Academic, Downers Grove, IL 2014], pp. 151-153; emphasis mine)

“In this chapter I have argued that none of the other heavenly beings in Daniel can be confidently identified with the ‘one like a son of man’ in 7:13. Apart from such an identification, it is difficult to imagine Daniel intending his audience to understand that the figure he saw in that heavenly throne room scene in chapter 7 was the same figure who delivered his friends in the fiery furnace in chapter 3 or who appeared to him in chapter 10. Having examined the way that Daniel describes these other heavenly beings, the remarkable features of Daniel 7 present a figure both human and divine, identified with and distinguished from the Ancient of Days, who represents the saints as their king.

“In Daniel 7, Daniel recounts his vision of the way that the Ancient of Days will be enthroned once the four kingdoms have enjoyed their appointed time and season, a vision of the way that the Davidic king will defeat the little horn from the fourth kingdom and receive the everlasting kingdom with his saints (7:21-27). The one like a son of man is called Most High by using a different expression from the one used to designate the Ancient of Days as Most High. He is clearly the Davidic king, and he is clearly a participant in the heavenly scene, traveling as Yahweh does, on the clouds of heaven.

“This does not demand that Daniel understood the Trinity as that doctrine progressively came to be revealed. Everyone was surprised when Jesus began to exercise divine prerogatives. What Daniel saw and described, however, fits perfectly with what would later be revealed with greater clarity. The New Testament even speaks of Jesus as begotten of the Father (1 John 5:18; cf. John 1:14, 18; 3:16, 18; 1 John 4:9; cf. John 5:26), another concept that fits well with there being an Ancient of Days and ‘one like a son of man’ (cf. Caragounis 1986).” (Ibid., pp. 153-154; emphasis mine)

“A voice is calling, ‘Prepare the way for Yahweh in the wilderness; Make smooth in the desert a highway for our God. Let every valley be lifted up, And every mountain and hill be made low; And let the rough ground become a plain, And the rugged terrain a broad valley; Then the glory of Yahweh will be revealed, And all flesh will see it together; For the mouth of Yahweh has spoken.’” Isaiah 40:3-5

“Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip was tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias was tetrarch of Abilene, during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John, the son of Zechariah, in the wilderness. And he came into all the district around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins; as it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet, ‘The voice of one crying in the wilderness, “Make ready the way of the Lord, Make His paths straight. Every ravine will be filled, And every mountain and hill will be brought low; The crooked will be straight, And the rough roads smooth. 6 And all flesh will see the salvation of God.”’… Now while the people were in a state of expectation and all were reasoning in their hearts about John, as to whether he was the Christ, John answered, saying to them all, ‘As for me, I baptize you with water, but One is coming who is mightier than I, and I am not fit to untie the strap of His sandals; He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in His hand to thoroughly clear His threshing floor and to gather the wheat into His barn, but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.’” Luke 3:1-6, 15-17   

“Then Paul said, ‘John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in Him who was coming after him, that is, in Jesus.’” Acts 19:4

“He said, ‘I am a voice of one crying in the wilderness, “Make straight the way of the Lord,” as Isaiah the prophet said.’… John answered them, saying, ‘I baptize with water, but among you stands One whom you do not know. This One is He who comes after me, of whom I am not worthy to untie the strap of His sandal.’ These things took place in Bethany beyond the Jordan, where John was baptizing. On the next day, he saw Jesus coming to him and said, ‘Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! This is He of whom I said, “After me comes a man who has been ahead of me, for He existed before me.” I did not know Him, but so that He might be manifested to Israel, I came baptizing with water.’ And John bore witness saying, ‘I have beheld the Spirit descending as a dove out of heaven, and He abided on Him. And I did not know Him, but He who sent me to baptize with water said to me, “The One upon whom you see the Spirit descending and abiding on Him, this is the One who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.” And I myself have seen, and have borne witness that this is the Son of God.’ On the next day, John again was standing with two of his disciples, and he looked at Jesus as He walked, and said, ‘Behold, the Lamb of God!’” John 1:23, 26-36

“And Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine; now he was a priest of God Most High… Then Abram said to the king of Sodom, “I have raised my hand to Yahweh God Most High, possessor of heaven and earth,” Genesis 14:18, 22

“I will give thanks to Yahweh according to His righteousness And will sing praise to the name of Yahweh Most High.” Psalm 7:17

“Yahweh also thundered in the heavens, And the Most High gave forth His voice, Hailstones and coals of fire.” Psalm 18:13

“That they may know that You alone—Your name is Yahweh— Are the Most High over all the earth.” Psalm 83:18

“And when he saw Jesus from afar, he ran and worshiped him; and crying out with a loud voice, he said, ‘What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I adjure you by God, do not torment me.’” Mark 5:6-7 Revised Standard Version

“31 And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name Him Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David, and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and there will be no end of His kingdom.”” Luke 1:31-33